Punjabi actress Sargun Mehta took notice of Sandeep Reddy Vanga's depiction of Sikh characters in 'Animal' and praised his attention to detail, while also defending him against the misogyny depicted in the film.
‘Animal’ still continues to make headlines. Ever since its release in December 2023, many audiences, critics and celebrities have been calling out the film for all the wrong reasons. Now joining the list of celebrities is Punjabi actress Sargun Mehta, however, she is a part of the other section of the audience, who is heaping praise on the Sandeep Reddy Vanga-directorial, calling the filmmaker detail-oriented.
There is a scene in the movie where Ranbir Kapoor’s character is required to get some aid from his cousins back home in Punjab. Shedding light on this, in a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Sargun said, “The moment I stepped out of ‘Animal,’ I said he (Sandeep) didn’t kill any of the Punjabi guys with their heads bowed and their eyes lowered. This is Sandeep’s speciality. You would have noticed that whenever a Sardar was shot in the film, they were standing tall with their chest puffed up. The bullets didn’t hit the man from the back or in the head, but they were hit right at the chest.”
She added, “Even in the last shot that he had of the Animal Park, the last Sardar who gets killed, he looks straight into the eyes of the guy who is about to kill him. There is no fear in his eyes. So, Sandeep knew that the guys who were singing ‘Arjan Vailly’…he is talking about valour, he can’t kill these men just like that. He has done his research. He hasn’t just made a film that made Rs 1000 crore. He didn’t leave anything. It was so well done.”
Keeping aside the depiction of Sikh characters in the movie, she also emphasized upon the reason why majority of the people have spoken against this film – misogyny. “People often say, ‘What will your film teach us?’ Now we have to decide whether all the lessons have to be learned only through films and if this is the case, let’s shut down schools. The idea of cinema is to show what is existing in some part of this world.”
The ‘Cuttputli’ actress further added, “I also can’t hear anything wrong being said to women, I myself have slapped so many men. I know when to raise my hand and when not. But equality isn’t that I speak about it everywhere…some things are for entertainment and I saw it like that.”
Irrespective of its negative reviews, the movie made Rs 917 crore worldwide in box office figures, and is now available to stream on OTT giant Netflix.